Links of the week

How I Saved My Kids From Sugar – Absolutely astounding the sheer volume of sugar that kids are offered outside of the home, from well-meaning family members to misguided health workers. Yoni Freedhoff explains what health-conscious parents can do. (The Walrus)

Refraining From Letting Ourselves Numb Out – How much of your behavior is driven by fear and avoidance? Most of us do this at least a little bit, some of us do it a lot. It’s worth some self-reflection. (Zen Habits)

Will Getting The Flu Shot Actually Make You Sick? – Um… no. Your immune system may respond (that’s the point) with some mild symptoms and you may not have gotten your shot soon enough (it takes 2 weeks to upregulate your immunity), but there is no active virus in a vaccine so it is not possible the shot made you sick. (Huffpo)

The ability to recover quickly after a binge is absolutely essential to success in building and maintaining a healthy body (and mind). And once you realize that an occasional binge isn’t the end of the world, you can even use the extra energy to your advantage.

If you eat real, fresh, Wild Diet Approved foods for long enough, you might notice that pre-packaged candy starts to taste like plastic. Ditch the Reeses and make these Wild Peanut Butter Cups instead.

Links of the week

My Kids Go Trick or Treating. Yours Probably Should Too. – If you’ve ever tried a restrictive diet you know how depriving yourself can result in a rebound binge effect. Kids are not immune to this psychological phenomenon either. I love Yoni Freedhoff’s advice to treat Halloween as a teachable moment to develop a healthy and realistic relationship with sugar and special occasions. (Weighty Matters)

Gut fungi could play a role in obesity epidemic – Move over gut bacteria, gut fungi want some attention too. Also FYI, when you read about a mouse study that used a “high-fat diet,” what they really mean is a Western diet that is high in both fat and sugar. Mice won’t eat lots of fat without sugar added. Go figure. (ScienceDaily)

Kimbal Musk Wants to Feed America, Silicon Valley-Style – I’m super interested to see how food evolves. It’s a complex problem and as much as I love the idea of everyone having their own backyard garden, I know that isn’t realistic. It’s exciting to consider what someone with resources like Musk can do in this space, though I hope he makes it better and not worse. (NY Times)